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You might not imagine table tennis to be powerful enough of a force to unite nations, but in 1971, a unique situation presented itself. You see, The People’s Republic of China had been closed to U.S. visitors since Mao Tse-tung instated his rule two decades before. But an unprecedented act of diplomacy and good will was extended when the Chinese government invited the United States to play in a table tennis tournament in Peking. Since China and the United States practiced different politics at the time, tensions were running high between the powerful countries. But when 18,000 Chinese sports enthusiasts got a load of U.S. team player Glenn Cowan, age 19, sporting his groovy California clothes and long hair, they just had to laugh, and a new era of diplomacy began. Plus, the Chinese were kind enough not to beat the U.S. team too badly– even though the Chinese out-performed the eclectic U.S. team across the board. Thus table tennis, also known as Ping Pong, delicately opened the possibility of trade and peace with The People’s Republic of China.

The game of table tennis was probably first played in England on dining room tables. Can you imagine? And with the advent of celluloid balls– which replaced cork or rubber balls– in 1900, table tennis gained popularity and spread across the globe. Now it finds its largest fans in Asia and Europe, but is played on every continent. China claims table tennis as its national pastime, and Japan reports having over 1,500,000 players in its country. Table tennis has recently become an Olympic sport– the first Olympic match was held in 1988 in Seoul, Korea. And although North America is considered to be the last frontier of table tennis, the sport is quickly gaining popularity.

Table tennis employs most of the same rules as regular tennis, except of course, it is played on a 274 cm high table with a net that stands 15.25 cm high. The paddles are generally constructed of wood and rubber, and there are paddles used for offensive, defensive and all-around play. You can play with one or two people on a side, with the server changing every 5 points. You lose a point if your serve overshoots the table’s boundaries, or wanders over the center line. Likewise, a point is lost if the defender fails to return the serve after it bounces once on his/her side. A point is lost if the ball bounces two times on the table, or if it falls short of the net. Seems pretty easy, huh?

Well, the challenge lies in the types of strokes executed by the players. Various levels of spin can be put on the ball as you hit it with the paddle, so that the ball bounces in a deceptive manner. And you might not believe it, but that little plastic ball is capable of moving at approximately 90 mph across the table when hit by a pro.

Although table tennis is a relatively young sport, it currently ranks second only to soccer terms of worldwide popularity of all organized sports. Clearly, table tennis has had a profound diplomatic influence on two of the most powerful nations of the world. Maybe time spent with a paddle in your hand is more productive than you thought!